New hours allow Street Faire to stretch into evening

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An extended, revamped spring Escondido Street Faire on Sunday will mix old favorites with some new attractions.

Along with 600 vendors, games, pony rides, face painting and rock climbing, this year's spring festival will have a beer garden, live bands and a barbecue grill that can cook 2,500 hot dogs at once.

Proceeds from barbecue sales will benefit an Escondido Chamber of Commerce college scholarship fund.

Harvey Mitchell, chamber president and CEO, said the fair is a welcome distraction from worries about the economy.

“It helps build community spirit and gives people a break when they have a lot of things on their minds,” Mitchell said. “It's the perfect place to take your family to spend the day.”

The fair is a joint effort of the chamber and the Escondido Downtown Business Association. It will be on a seven-block stretch of Grand Avenue between Centre City Parkway and Ivy Street. This year, the event will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“What we found was there was hardly anyone there at 9 in the morning, and when we tried to tear down at 5, there were lots of people still around,” said Brian Roth of Kennedy and Associates, the company coordinating the fair. “We said, 'Why don't we adjust the hours and stay open when the people want to come?' ”

The Escondido 4-H Club will serve a pancake breakfast beginning at 8 a.m. The street fair will feature a community stage to give youth groups a chance to show their talents. The beer garden stage will be the venue for performances by three bands.